Knives and Graces and the Dauntless, oh my! Books for people who love The Hunger Games.

When it comes to the recent Hunger Games frenzy, there's a catch-phrase I'm getting a little tired of hearing: "It's just like Twilight!" Or: "It's just like Twilight, but with more blood!" Or: "It's just like Twilight, but better!"

And by *a little tired,* I mean *ready to unleash the tracker jacker hordes upon the next offender.*

The Hunger Games is nothing like Twilight. At all. I don't mean it in a disparaging way--though I'm not Twilight's biggest fan, it got people reading, and I could never begrudge anything that accomplishes that--but literally the only two things these books have in common are teen girl heroines, and being on the NYT bestseller list.

And maybe love triangles. But really, that's it.

So in order to shamelessly linkbait and capitalize on the frenzy, I give you books that genuinely have something in common with The Hunger Games, and that are equally (if not more) awesome. Enjoy!

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The Knife of Never Letting Go by Patrick Ness
Goodreads | IndieBound | Barnes & Noble

There's only men in Prentisstown, due to a virus that wiped out every woman and left every man's thoughts exposed for all to hear, in the Noise...or so they thought. When Todd discovers a terrible secret--a girl, surviving--on the distant planet he calls home, he's off on a chase that will leave you white-knuckled and sobbing by turns. It's a high-concept, fantastic dystopian sci-fi that comes the closest to The Hunger Games in sheer emotional sucker-punching impact. What makes it even better than The Hunger Games? The series stays consistently awesome the whole way through (it's followed by The Ask and the Answer and Monsters of Men), cliffhangers and all, so you can read all three in a sitting without wanting to throw any against the wall. (Ahem, Mockingjay.)

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Graceling by Kristin Cashore
Goodreads | IndieBound | Barnes & Noble

If you're looking for a (literally) killer heroine to rival Katniss, look no further than Graceling's Katsa, who was born with a magical talent for killing. She lives half-wild in her uncle's court until she meets her fighting match, and sets off on a quest to save the Seven Kingdoms. This book contains what is easily one of the greatest (sexiest and swooniest) YA romances of all time, as well as a great fantasy story turned on its head in a terrific world I'd love to live in. It doesn't hurt that its companion novel Fire is just as good, either. If you're looking for something a little less literally dystopian but with the fighting spirit of The Hunger Games, this book is for you.

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Divergent by Veronica Roth
Goodreads | IndieBound | Barnes & Noble

Probably the only real dystopian blockbuster heir to The Hunger Games, Divergent is the story of Tris, living in a future Chicago divided into five factions devoted to particular virtues: Candor, Abnegation, Dauntless, Amity, and Erudite. When Tris makes a choice that cuts her off from everything she's ever known, she must face down a growing uncertainty about her place in her world, and, of course, deal with an infuriating (and sexy) boy. It's more popcorny than my other picks, but it's easily one of the best dystopias to emerge from the latest wave and well-worth reading for its cinematic world-building alone. I'm sure we'll see a movie out of this one eventually, so jump on the bandwagon now.

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Parable of the Sower by Octavia Butler
Goodreads | IndieBound | Barnes & Noble

It's not YA, but it's certainly a dystopia: one of Butler's most famous works, it also happens to be my favorite book of all time. In future Los Angeles not far removed from us at all, water is the most precious resource and drug-addicted gangs roam the streets starting fires. Lauren Olamina, born with hyperempathy--the ability to experience other's pain and pleasure--due to an unfortunate side effect of her mother's drug habit, lives in a gated community slowly coming undone. When her world collapses around her, it's her religion for the future--Earthseed--that keeps her together and helps her survive. I really can't do it justice in a description; it's a novel so good it must be read to be believed. Lauren Olamina could hold her own against Katniss any day, and Panem can't hold a candle to the chilling version of our future Butler presents here. If you're looking for a slightly edgier read that explores issues of environmental catastrophe, race, gender, and religion, this is the book for you.

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And of course, there's the obvious pick of Battle Royale by Koushun Takami (which many have accused Suzanne Collins of plagiarizing), though I haven't read it. What books remind you of The Hunger Games? Leave your recommendations in the comments!

Review: Stolen by Lucy Christopher

Stolen by Lucy Christopher
Goodreads | IndieBound | Barnes & Noble
YA, Contemporary, 301 pages, Chicken House Ltd

• Series: stand-alone
• Pub date: May 4th 2009
• Disclosure: Received a copy as a Christmas present from my lovely fabulous fellow blogger Emma of Booking Through 365. Thanks!

Judged by its cover: Very basic, but that's okay. It wouldn't exactly catch my eye in a bookstore, but it's inoffensive and easy to read in public.

Goodreads blurb:

It happened like this.
I was stolen from an airport.
Taken from everything I knew,
everything I was used to.
Taken to sand and heat, dirt
and danger. And he expected
me to love him. This is my story.
A letter from nowhere.

The Long...

I can't get to the bottom of my complex feelings about this book without getting to the bottom of my complex feelings on sensational media kidnapping stories. Elizabeth Smart. Madeleine McCann. As a culture, we're obsessed with the idea of a pretty white virgin kidnapping, and this book explores that in a vaguely creepy, yet lyrical and ultimately heartbreaking, way.

Gemma is the most basic of YA heroines: British, disillusioned. She wanders away from her parents in an airport, and bumps into the gorgeous, Australian, too-old Ty, who proceeds to drug her and keep her on his compound in the Australian outback, where, beyond flashbacks, most of the story takes place. Gemma tries over and over to escape, but is foiled by the heat, the desolation, and by the endless parade of poisonous creatures Australia is famous for. The landscape is beautiful, bleak, and unusual, and Christopher evokes it in all of its vicious and surprisingly tender glory. There is a harrowing (and disgusting) scene involving the capture of a camel. I could feel the grit in my eyes and the sun on my back.

Gemma, really, is only here to make Ty an enigma to us: he's the true center of the story. He is bewildered by Gemma's desire to return to her family, when in his eyes he's simply rescued her from an unhappy situation. There are vague sexual, sensational undertones to their relationship as the story progresses--how could there not be?--but there's something deeper, too. Ty is a savior and a big brother and a monster all at once, and Christopher has given us a terrific, if implausible, anti-hero to root for.

Terrific, if implausible, is a great way to sum up the story, actually. The prose is drippy and angsty as a teen's diary, and while it's a little much at times, it's also a guilty delight to read. Stolen is compulsively readable for the same reason kidnapping and cult stories make the front page of People: we are fascinated by these subspecies of the human race, the monsters, those who refuse to live by society's rules. We want to devour them.

I cried at the end, and I'm not sure why. I felt like I was held captive myself; like this book was a dream I had to wake up from. I imagine that was the effect Christopher had in mind. It's a sucker punch of a book that I never quite believed, but loved just the same; just like Gemma seems to feel about Ty.

...and the Short: 

Gushy and sensational, but haunting and lovely, too. Christopher evokes an unforgettable landscape and anti-hero, even if I had trouble swallowing every little detail.

The Final Word: Liked it.